Disclaimer- I am not an Engineer, Architect or trained designer of anything. This series of Blog posts is intended solely for informational purposes, not educational.
This post is going to concentrate more on the ‘guts’ of the house. We’ve already talked about things like doorway sizes and hallway width, now it’s time for the under-structure that supports all of it.
First off, those wider doors and hallways need a little more support than the normal width ones. The doors weigh more, the width of the halls are larger spans to support. Not by much, but still enough to deserve some thought.
In our home, we opted to go with floor trusses instead of the standard floor joists. Why? Honestly, it had a LOT to do with squeaking. If you have a main floor with a garage or basement, you’ve probably found the ‘squeak’ spot. The one where you can push it and it always makes a noise. The older the house, the more squeaks appear. This is because over time wood ages and in some cases warps, especially in high traffic areas. If this is true with normal average body weight of a person walking across it multiple times, then it stands to reason it would be more true with the extra weight of a wheelchair. Power wheelchairs weigh considerably more than a conventional wheelchair and this should be taken into consideration. Using floor trusses gives significantly more structural support then floor joists. There is also the consideration of the type of flooring. Tile floors, especially ceramic tile, weigh significantly more than linoleum; hardwood floors weigh significantly more than carpet. The use of floor trusses will better support the weight of heavier flooring and regular usage of heavier items like power wheelchairs. The use of floor trusses, while adding to the overall cost of construction, can be viewed as a better investment in the long term quality of the home. Trusses are also better for large open expanses such as garage space on the lower floor. Because we used trusses we only had to have one support pole in the garage, as opposed to the three it would have required if we had used joists. This allowed more free space for maneuverability.
Most people are familiar with trusses as they relate to the roof and attic areas. Trussing in this area is also important when considering the handicap adaptations. Using good trusses and in some cases what is called a 'reinforced' truss, gives more support in areas like wider hallways, open floor plans, and pocket doors. As we've discussed before, pocket doors should be used with solid door material. Not necessarily solid oak, maple, or pine which are expensive; composite doors can be made of many materials as long as they are solid and heavier than a hollow core door. This allows for the pocket doors to have a smoother operating capability as well as quieter functioning because the doors will not rattle due to pressure changes or traffic nearby. Having a good solid truss overhead lends extra support to the walls it connects to reducing wall sway and vibration.
The same is true for stud size. Industry standard is to use 2x4 walls. We opted to use 2x6 studs on the exterior walls of the house, to allow more room for insulation, thus raising the “R” value, however we also chose certain key interior walls also. Why? Well, consider the areas. We have a large, open kitchen and living room area. They back right up to the bedroom walls. Who likes to go to bed and listen to someone else watching TV? For those key walls, we opted not only to make them 2x6, but to have them insulated with blown cellulose. Cellulose is much more effective at sound dampening than other types of insulation. The 2x6 walls are also the walls bordering the areas that are higher ‘load bearing’. Having such a large expanse of open area in the combined living room and kitchen required extra support and increased load bearing capability. This area has the reinforced trussing and the 2x6 walls increase the load bearing capability and overall stability. In our case, I had several in depth research sessions and discussions with an engineer friend on how to span and support the area. At it’s max, our living room has an ‘unsupported’, meaning not attached load bearing walls or support poles, of 29 feet.
There are many options available for installation, heating and air-conditioning, duct-work, and plumbing. These items are strictly up to you as the designer and homeowner. The only role accessibility plays in these choices are so personal it's hard to give generalized recommendations. For example if you suffer from allergies you may choose to have a more expensive filtering system on your heating and air or if you live in an area with not necessarily the best water supply, you may choose to install additional filtering for that as well. Those items are fairly standard and options that you can decide whether or not you can or cannot afford, do or do not want, or somewhere in between. For these things, just keep in mind that if you are going to be the responsible person doing things like changing filters, they need to be installed in such a way as to make it easily accessible for you. The location of duct work is a matter of preference, industry-standard in our area is for the duct venting to be on the floor, in other areas it's low on the wall. Looking back I wish I'd chosen to do low on the wall as it is hard to find a didn't cover that will hold up to the weight of over power wheelchair should I accidentally run over one. Thermostat controls should also be lower in height, like the light switches.
Windows are another important decision, not only for their importance as an escape point for heating and air-conditioning or aesthetic appearance. Double hung windows are in industry-standard and by far the least expensive option available in home-improvement stores. Your choice of materials such as solid wood, aluminum clad, and fiberglass are strictly personal choices. Actual window glass material is also very personal with many options available such as double pane, triple pane, or argon gas filled. The only advice I can give you here is to think long and hard about the type of window you want. I did not want double hung windows for several reasons. We have a very nice view from our home, I did not want the middle bar of a double hung window cutting the view in half. We also wanted larger windows to expand the view and double hung windows are limited in their size. We live very close to a railroad track which causes significant vibration and if you've ever had double hung windows you are aware they vibrate, especially as they age. Double hung windows are useless to me as I really can't operate them from my chair. With these considerations in mind we chose to use mainly fixed casement windows, and for the egress windows the casement style opening was something that I could easily operate from my chair. If you're not familiar what an "egress" window is, I highly suggest you discuss it with a contractor or someone in the building regulations and codes office. Each county and city have their own rules as to how many egress windows you must have and where they should be placed being aware of the codes in your area greatly influences window placement and types.
We have discussed the trench drain shower that allows for a wheelchair to be rolled in and out. The trench drain requires different plumbing than a traditional shower and this must be considered during the installation of floor trusses and plumbing. There are many types of trench drain styles available, each with their own installation instructions. I highly suggest that you select a manufacturer, a size, and a style prior to construction. The instructions for installation need to be shared with the contractor and his subcontractors, such as the plumber, before construction begins.
There are so many decisions to be made when constructing a home, even more when constructing a handicap accessible home. I highly recommend you take as long as you need to plan, research, and gather as much information as possible long before you speak to a bank or contractor. It's very helpful to have a notebook or some other way to jot down your thoughts, questions, and ideas. My husband and I purchased a very large three ring binder,sheet protectors, and loose notebook paper. Whenever we saw something we liked whether on the television, in an add, at a home show, or something that came up in a discussion we put it in the notebook. Sometimes it was taking a picture with your phone; sometimes a question would pop into your mind, (and if you're like me if you don't write it down you'll forget it later), sometimes it was cutting out pictures or articles from construction magazines or brochures and sliding them into the sheet protectors. It can be a handy resource to have as you won't have to remember the manufacturer of the trench drain style you liked because it's there already.
The binders is also a good place to store things like estimates for windows, flooring, paint, etc. Getting those type of estimates prior to speaking with contractors can give you a better idea of whether the contractors bid is high or low and some idea of the type of materials he may be using. Many contractors like to use 'contractor grade' items because they can buy them in bulk and make a profit. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not always a good thing either. Light fixtures, faucets, fiberglass tub/showers, etc. may not be up to the standard you want. You may need to negotiate with a contractor if you have specific items you prefer to use, and you would be wise to explain that to the contractor at the time you ask them for a bid. We ended up doing some of ours separate from the contractor bid, for instance we wanted LED lighting throughout the house. We found them, bought them, and his sub-contractor installed them, so light fixtures themselves were not included in his bid, but installing them was; while the actual purchase cost was included in the bid summary for the bank.
The binders is also a good place to store things like estimates for windows, flooring, paint, etc. Getting those type of estimates prior to speaking with contractors can give you a better idea of whether the contractors bid is high or low and some idea of the type of materials he may be using. Many contractors like to use 'contractor grade' items because they can buy them in bulk and make a profit. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not always a good thing either. Light fixtures, faucets, fiberglass tub/showers, etc. may not be up to the standard you want. You may need to negotiate with a contractor if you have specific items you prefer to use, and you would be wise to explain that to the contractor at the time you ask them for a bid. We ended up doing some of ours separate from the contractor bid, for instance we wanted LED lighting throughout the house. We found them, bought them, and his sub-contractor installed them, so light fixtures themselves were not included in his bid, but installing them was; while the actual purchase cost was included in the bid summary for the bank.
That's all for this week. As always any thoughts or questions feel free. Thanks for reading!
